ZOREN: Holley brings big voice to Ch. 29

Alex Holley said she didn’t talk as much as many of the children in her Dallas elementary school classroom, but she said she had a voice that was distinct and carried.

Rather than continuing to get in trouble for talking, Holley figured she should put her penchant for gab, and for finding out all that was going on in her school and neighborhood, to good use.

Although her mother, an executive with American Airlines, and her father, a criminal court judge, tried to steer Holley into their lines of work, she was more drawn to broadcasting, and particularly the delivery of news.

Holley’s mom was so intent on introducing her daughter to the airline industry, she even set up a meeting between Holley and a pilot, hoping the encounter would entice her to guide airships all about the globe.

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Broadcasting, for which Holley got her first taste by acing an audition to be an announcer on her high school’s morning news report, won her heart, and Holley’s high-achieving family had to accept the fact that she was going to add to the professional areas in which they excel.

Monday, Sept. 1, following a week of hanging around the set, Holley joins Channel 29’s “Good Day Philadelphia as co-anchor of the 7-10 a.m. portions of the six-hour show that begins at 4 a.m. with Kerry Barrett and Chris Murphy at the anchor desk she’ll later preside over with Philly favorite, Mike Jerrick.

Jerrick has been Holley’s escort as she becomes familiar with Philadelphia.

“Mike really knows this city and had shown me a lot of his favorite places,” Holley said during a telephone interview from Channel 29 studios. “I have been to the Spruce Street Harbor Park, out for a cheesesteak, and on a variety of other tours Mike devised. It is wonderful to see how truly loved he is by the people in Philadelphia. I am a little amazed by all of the friendliness and adulation.”

Holley has been doing some wandering of her own and said she already wonders how people survive icy winters on the hills of Manayunk.

Getting to know cities is a lifelong habit for Holley. Her last broadcasting jobs were in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and Columbia, Mo., not exactly complex or complicated burgs, but her childhood was spent touring the world.

“My mother held a high position as director of corporate strategy and diversity at American Airlines,” Holley said. “One of the privileges of her job was our family could go just about anywhere in the world we wanted for vacations. That meant every Thanksgiving, Christmas, spring break, and other holidays were spent seeing the world.

“I’ll tell you, the one bad part of leaving college was no longer being eligible to fly for free under mom’s auspices,” Holley continued. “I was no longer considered a child. Now if want to travel, I have to take finances into consideration. Part of growing up, I guess.”

Holley remembers trips to Rio de Janeiro and Buenos Aires as well as excursions to the Caribbean and an eye-opening visit to Japan. She said living in Dallas sparked an interest in Spanish culture, and since her parents let her choose destinations, she usually selected places where she could speak Spanish, Brazil and Japan being obvious exceptions.

During one semester while in high school Holley studied at the University of Salamanca and really got to know Spain.

“I had a professor who spoke no English, so it was instruction by immersion,” Holley said. “I either had to understand and respond in Spanish, or I would have been left, confused, in the dust.”

Told about my penchant for taking a daredevil “get lost” tour within hours of arriving in a new city — Budapest is next — Holley said she is more of a planner who has studied the landscape and heads out for adventures with maps and other helpful material. In ways, she is approaching Philadelphia as she would a foreign outpost. She said she is impressed with how friendly and ready to aid a lost pedestrian Philadelphians are.

Holley said she once had an idea of making a career from her interest in sports, but she realized that at 5 foot, 3 inches tall, basketball was not a likely option. She found athletic fulfillment competing in track and field.

Holley knows she has a tough act to follow replacing Sheinelle Jones on”Good Day.” She and Jones have much in common, their fathers both being judges, being diminutive, and loving to talk.

In speaking to Holley, I found a fluid conversationalist who recognizes jokes and can get in a rib or two. She comes to the Channel 29 with a wide range of experience as a person going about life and as a reporter who covered most of the many weather emergencies in Myrtle Beach. She said she wants to continue exploring the area, with Jerrick as a guide or what she refers to as “incognito.” One way or another, you’ll be seeing a lot of Holley.

“Good Day” will accelerate Holley getting to know the region by originating from various locations her first week on the air, including to Wilmington, Del.

‘Action News’ expanding

Channel 6 is expanding two important newscasts, one on its air, and one of Channel 17, where the “Action News” team presides over that outlet’s 10 p.m. show.

As the new television season begins Sept. 8, the weekday noon edition of “Action News” with Rick Williams and Sarah Bloomquist grows to an hour. ABC’s “The Chew” will follow it while “Who Wants To Be a Millionaire,” with new host Terry Crews, airs at 2 p.m., “Daytime Jeopardy!” debuts at 2:30, and the dinosaur among soap operas, “General Hospital,” returns to its traditional slot at 3.

Also on Sept. 8, “Action News at 10 on PHL17” also becomes an hourlong program. Weekday anchors remain Brian Taff and Shirleen Allicot with Adam Joseph on weather and Ducis Rodgers on sports. The weekend team features Walter Perez as anchor, Melissa Magee on weather, and Jeff Skversky on sports.

End of an era

Harry Donahue’s departure from KYW Newsradio’s (1060 AM) morning anchor desk is tantamount to the change of an era. The reporter and commentator, who has been with KYW since 1973, signed off for the last time Friday morning.

Although Donahue’s retirement means he gets to spend more time with his wife, children, and grandchildren, his voice won’t be entirely missing from local air. Donahue will continue to be the play-by-play announcer on Temple football games, heard on KYW’s sister station, WPHT-1210 AM.

Little League gets big ratings

Looking positively for once, the United States and television viewers fell in love with Mo’ne Davis, and ESPN ratings for the Little League World Series skyrocketed.

Interest in the annual event in Williamsport has never been so high. Little League fans from Chicago and the West Coast were as avid as Philadelphians about cheering on their teams. Games featuring local Little League teams, such as Davis’ Taney Dragons, fared as well in the ratings as games featuring the Eagles and the Chicago Cubs.

I was one of the viewers. I stumbled across Taney’s games against Las Vegas and Chicago while scanning shows. Although I was an accidental audience, I was riveted to the Little League action as much as I might be to a Phillies game. Davis’ first couple of innings against Las Vegas showed what everyone was talking about in terms of her baseball skill.

It is encouraging that America embraced baseball, a national pastime that has lost ground to football and basketball in popularity during the last decade or two. It is more encouraging that viewers’ hearts — and allegiances — were focused on children learning a disciplined game and playing it on a level that earned attention.

The only thing that marred the ESPN-Little League story in the Delaware Valley was Taney’s elimination. No matter. Nationally, the Little League World Series captured the affection of the mass audience, and the Taney Dragons and Davis had more than a little to do with that.

Dopes

In an unrelated sports story that has been discussed on radio and television, I see the difference in entertainment and sports reporting in the coverage of two Pittsburgh Steelers running backs who were arrested for marijuana possession en route to the Pittsburgh airport for their flight for last Thursday’s game against the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field.

Sports reporters, who have a tendency to bellyache and be moralists, approach this story with horror and think of penalties and other forms of retribution for the players.

As an entertainment reporter, I tend to shrug. My only comment is I wish the players had hired a driver to take them to airport instead of one of them operating a vehicle while high on marijuana. And that’s only for safety sake, in case the driver becomes impaired.

Sure, I wouldn’t want an actor or TV personality coming on the stage or set drunk or in a drug stupor. But I don’t see how smoking pot 30 hours before a show or game will make a difference in a player’s performance. It isn’t so much that I support or endorse drug use. Most of the time, I’m indifferent to controversies others deem moral dilemmas. Reagrding the Steelers’ running backs, I couldn’t care less. In Colorado or Washington, the issue would be moot. (Except for the issue about driving.)